‘The role of paid staff would shift from hands-on support to helping to map the relationships in a person’s life.’
Photograph: Alamy

For those of us working in social care, the last couple of years have been the toughest in living memory. From reports revealing the underfunding of services through to deepening staff shortages, it’s hard to see where any help and relief for the sector will come from. Particularly as there’s no end in sight to the government’s spending squeeze.

Despite such a grim backdrop, many of us in this amazing industry remain resolute in our mission to deliver outstanding services to those in need. Times might be hard, but it hasn’t stopped us from asking what we can do to ensure we improve services and the lives of those who need support.

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Without much-needed financial investment, our sector finds itself having to be resourceful in ways it has never before imagined. We need to look at other ways to get the job done. And it has to be done, because what we’re talking about here is protecting extremely vulnerable individuals and potentially the communities they live in.

A way to achieve this could be through empowering social care professionals to become hubs for community networks, bringing together and coordinating people from a range of backgrounds to provide support. It already happens to a degree, but its potential has yet to be fully mined.

We all recalled acts of friendliness and support towards people with a disability involving shopkeepers, churchgoers, the post office and more. All were genuine and, most importantly, non-patronising. But who takes on the role of harnessing this support and ensuring it continues? Often, relatives don’t have the answer, particularly with career pressures and the diffuse family networks created by modern life.

In order to make this vision a reality, we really need the sector’s leaders to lobby for a new strategy and framework for social care that acknowledges the financial reality but argues that quality of life for people with a disability need not necessarily reduce if we focus on the role of civil society and Community Connecting. This approach is well-suited to the current state of social care, one that puts personal relationships – again think shopkeepers, fellow churchgoers, friends – at the heart of any support plan.

The most important role of paid staff would shift from the provision of hands-on support to helping to map the personal and community relationships in an individual’s life – and to plan how these can be developed.

A good starting point is to draw up a “relationship circle” to establish how much time a person spends with those who are not paid to be there, from casual acquaintances to intimate relationships; the more people on this map, the more fulfilled a person’s life is likely to be.

Q&A

What is the social care green paper?

The much-anticipated green paper on social care for older people is due to be published in the autumn of 2018. The government originally promised the green paper before last year's general election, but then said it would be unveiled before MPs' summer recess – although there were hopes it would appear much sooner.

It was also hoped the paper would address needs across the entire adult social care sector. Instead, the paper will be limited to the government’s plans for improving care and support for older people and tackling the challenges presented by an ageing population.

There will be a "parallel work stream" on working age disabled adults, but some are concerned this report will focus on getting more disabled people into work.

The government has invited a number of people to advise on the paper, including Paul Burstow, chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence; and Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK. However, no user or care worker representatives have been invited.

During a cabinet reshuffle in early January, Jeremy Hunt became secretary of state for health and social care. Despite already having social care in his mandate, the change gave Hunt lead responsibility for the green paper.

The proposals set out in the paper will build on the additional £2bn the government has provided to meet social care needs, reduce pressures on NHS services and stabilise the social care provider market over the next three years. Once published, the paper will be subject to a full public consultation.

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While Damian Green’s announcement last autumn of a green paper focused almost entirely on elderly care, it did include a teasing reference to “wider networks of support”, into which Community Connecting would naturally fit.

The future of social care can feel bleak. We need the green paper to address the issues the industry faces and one way we can do this is if all of us, as part of civil society, play our part. Bringing communities together and training social care staff to be able to work with communities to help those they support could relieve services, while making lives better for those with and without care needs.